Parrotlet.html

Our Parrotlets:

Parrotlets are delightful little birds! As the worlds smallest true parrot, they are very intelligent and quite comical. They are quickly becoming one of the most popular parrots today. As the focus of our breeding program, they even inspired the naming of our Aviary. They are small birds, about the size of a parakeet, but with a short tail. They are similar in shape to the common lovebird, but about half the size. In fact, they fit comfortably into the brest pocket of most shirts! Our pet, Sprite, loves to ride around in my pocket and has been in many stores without ANYONE knowing! Occasionally, he'll stick his little head up to peak out and drop right back down to hide. It seems that a warm, cozy, dark pocket makes a perfect place for a quick nap for these guys. Although, don't be fooled by his quick nap. Parrotlets are often very busy little animals and consume quite a bit of energy for such a small bird.
They make wonderful pets for many reasons. Being small, they don't make nearly as large of a mess as the big birds do. Their calls, are not nearly as loud as that of the lovebirds and larger parrots. And while they usually aren't quite as talkative as the larger birds, they often do learn to talk. They are sexually dimorphic, which means you can sex pacific parrotlets simply by their coloration. Males usually have blue markings around the eyes, on the flight feathers, and on the rump while femals lack these additional markings. Albinos are the only exception to this rule as they have no pigment anywhere on their body. They must be sexed under a blacklight.

Since these birds have become so very popular, there has been great interest in breeding these birds. Please do not think it's an easy task, it isn't! As intelligent as they are, they can be quite difficult to successfully breed. However, for all those who are interested in breeding this interesting little bird, please drop me an email for additional information.

Pacific parrotlets come in a wide variety of colors today. The natural color of the pacific parrotlet is a green color with blue markings on the males. Breeders have expanded the colors to a wide variety including yellow, blue, lutino, fallow, white, pastel and several others.

Please note, ALL parrotlets bred by us are International Parrotlet Society (IPS) banded! Bands will have IPS, MJR, SC, and a bird number on each band. We keep detailed history on every parrotlet we breed and we go to great lengths to gather all relevant information on the parents. We pay attention to detail! We study each mutation and try our best to breed them in the most responsible way possible. We will send digital pictures of each breeding pair that are responsible for each baby upon request. This way you know what you are buying when you buy from us. We do not like surprises, especially for our customers! If we say it's split to a color, then there is no doubt that the bird is split to that color.

Below are a few pictures of our adult breeder parrotlets. As you can see, they are quite healthy and have begun breeding for us.

Here is a picture of our American White Hen. She’s still a little too young to breed at this time, but she should be breeding for us within 6 months. She’s sitting on my chest wondering why we are taking so many pictures of her. She's such a sweet bird! We expect to have white parrotlets similar to her in the near future. She lives in a split breeder cage with a male double split on the other side of the divider so that they can safely bond together until it's time for them to breed.

We were going to breed her with a Yellow Split to blue, but we later decided it would be better to breed her with a double split. The green double split will give us bigger, healthier babies. Fewer of them will be American White, but they will be healthier. After all, no one wants an unhealthy bird. Anyhow, you can see in the picture below how pretty he is. He's now paired with a young blue split to yellow. It'll be a while before they are ready to breed. They too are living in a divided breeder cage so they can safely bond until it's time to breed.

Here he is on my hand. He's a sweetiepie!

He even laid on his back for a few seconds.

Here is another picture of the same male. He's so patient! Notice the blue on his flight feathers and around his eyes. He looks a bit rough cause he's in a molt, but he'll be done with that soon. His color will become brighter after his first molt. The blue around his eyes and flight feathers will become darker, making an even prettier bird.

Here is a picture of our adult Lutino split to blue male. He’s a bit camera shy and since he’s a breeding adult, we avoid handling him if at all possible. He did let me get this shot. Notice how bright yellow he is and note his red eyes. His mate is a Blue split to Lutino. Also note that he has white where blue would normally be on a male parrotlet. This is typical of lutino parrotlets. Albinos are red eyed and solid white. They can be quite difficult to sex because they entire bird is white with red eyes. We hope to get some albino's off this pair.

Below is a picture of the same male with his mate. She has rubbed the feathers off her chest in preparation for sitting eggs. Hens sometimes do this to better incubate the eggs. They are currently on 3 eggs and still laying. This pair should produce albino, lutino split to blue, blue split to lutino, and green double split to lutino and blue.

Below is a Yellow split blue female with a Blue split yellow male. They have laid 7 eggs and those eggs should start hatching soon. They should have a combination of White, yellow split blue, blue split yellow, and green double splits. Once again, being breeders, they are a bit shy and we avoid handling them or bothering them very much. Breeders are best left alone.

Here is our Blue male parrotlet. He's about a year old. He and his mate are going through a molt right now, so they are taking a break. He is paired with a green split to blue hen. They will just have blue and green split blue babies. Notice the tell tell darker blue around his eyes and on his flight feathers. This is the best way to sex a parrotlet. Males have the darker blue on their flight feathers, rump, and around their eyes (except on lutinos and albinos).

Here is our most recent addition to our breeding program. This is a blue split yellow hen. She's only 4 months old, so it'll be a while before she's ready for breeding. She's a sweetie. She is very curious. Notice she does not have the darker blue color on her wings or eyes.

This is our double-split male. Notice he's just taken a bath! He's such a mess! This green is the typical color of a parrotlet. They are the most common color. Therefore, they are the least expensive of all the parrotlets. If they are split to a color, then they may be a little more expensive than a "clean green", even though you can't see any difference in the bird's natural color. Remember, you can't tell by looking at a parrotlet if it's split to a color, you MUST know the genetic background of the bird. You MUST know what colors the parents were and their genetic background as well. The green color is a combination of both blue and yellow. The yellow bird is the result of a genetic mutation that does not allow the bird to produce the blue pigment. The blue is a genetic mutation that does not allow the bird to produce the yellow pigment.

Below you will find our newest addition to our breeding program, a Pastel Blue male. His mate is a green double split to pastel and blue female. Now, they are both very young and so will not be breeding for some time. He has just finished weening onto parakeet food and millet and she is about 3 months old. They should give us 25% pastel split to blue, 25% blue split to pastel, 25% green double split, and 25% pastel blue. He is a VERY sweet bird. Also note, Pastel Blue birds are a little more difficult to sex. The males may only have a small amount of blue on his rump.

If you are interested in purchasing a parrotlet, please drop us an Email. If we do not have what you want available, we will help you find someone who does. Also, feel free to email us with any questions about care or about the genetics of parrotlets.

Please do not use ANY of the pictures on this page without written permission from the author.

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